Habitat - Indoor :: Media setup

[MerryMenagerie]

I've only had it set up since the 24th, not quite three weeks. The water was clean when I originally hooked it up on the 21st or 22nd, but it took several days to get it started. It cleared up a little over about a weeks time, but then started getting dirty again. Before I added water yesterday, it was so cloudy I could barely see Spots in there. The clean water diluted it a bit, and hopefully now it's cleaning. I may do a partial water change, and check the media again in a week. I still need to add more carbon and ceramic rings. I also took out the driftwood thinking maybe it was leaching tannins.

[ljapa]

Do you know what your water conditions are?

During the aquarium cycle, some experience a bacteria bloom that turns the water cloudy. I didn't get it, but I'm told it's a normal part of the cycle. If you've only had the tank up and running since the 24th, it may still be cycling.

[MerryMenagerie]

No, is there a test kit for that? Also, there are bits of food at the bottom (I have no substrate in there right now). Do I need an air pump or something to circulate the water on the bottom?

[ljapa]

No need for an air pump.

You'll want to google the aquarium cycle for lots of detail, but in a nutshell, your turtle excretes ammonia, which as it builds up is not healthy-- worse for fish that are breathing it than a turtle. However, there are bacteria that eat that ammonia and excrete it as nitrite. That's even more unhealthy, but there are other bacteria that turn that into nitrate. Nitrate isn't healthy either, but is the least unhealthy of them all. It gets removed during water changes.

These bacteria are primarily growing in your biomedia. That's one of the big reasons for having a filter. However, they are slow growing. It can take weeks for a tank to "cycle," reliably turn ammonia into nitrate. Cloudiness can be a step in that cycle process.

You can get test kits for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, among other things. I use http://www.apifishcare.com/product.php? ... d=0&id=580

There are test strips, but they are not as reliable as the drop tests. You can pick up a test kit at any fish store, or get it cheaper online.

When a tank is cycling, testing for all three forms of nitrogen can tell you where you are. Once it is cycled, unless something happens to kill off the beneficial bacteria, you'll only need to test for nitrates to help determine when water changes are necessary.

The general recommendation when a tank is cycling is to avoid water changes until it is done. Doing so can lengthen the cycle. However that advice should be mitigated if the levels of harmful nitrogen (ammonia/nitrite) get very high. With fish, since they breathe the water, you have the potential for death with a high level of either. Since a turtle is breathing air and just swallowing a little of the water, the outcome is not as dire.

[steve]

How's the surface agitation?

[MerryMenagerie]

It doesn't move much except right where the sprayer bar is.

[steve]

Is it bar right above the water surface?

[VeipaCray]

Can you post a pic? I think ljapa is onto something with the bacteria bloom and the tank not being fully cycled.

[devilduck]

You'll have to tough it out. It will take about a month for the filter to cycle. You'll just wake up one morning the and water will be clear. In the meantime if it gets too bad you can do smaller, like 30% changes to the water.

Sounds like the flow isn't great from your filter. Take out the polyfill floss and replace it with biomedia or more sponges. Fine media like that clog up too quickly in a turtle tank.

[Into_the_Mystic]

Speaking of sponges.. I have a Rena XP3 and it comes with 4 sponges that I use in the bottom canister. There are 2 fine sponges and 2 regular sponges (wider holes). I have noticed that the bottom sponge gets all cakes with brown goo in like 2 weeks and I have to rinse it really well and put it back in. Should I take one of the fine sponges out? I am thinking it may help with the flow of water being more fast.

Just wondering because it really cakes up on the bottom sponge when I clean the canister out.

[MerryMenagerie]

There's no poly fill in there, never has been. It's still cloudy, but clearer than before. I'm taking out the bioballs and adding more ceramic rings. I already added more sponges and new carbon.

Top pic was 4/24, bottom pic today, 5/17. I cleaned the filter on the 11th and I added water but didn't take any out.

http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p71 ... 847951.jpg

[VeipaCray]

It's getting there. This is the downside of the cheap sunsun like generic filters. The pumps just don't put out the same flow as the better filters.

How much water is in that tank? You may have surpassed what a sunsun can handle for a turtle. You can ignore what the box / manufacturer says for gallons the filter can do. The filter manufacturer is assuming you're using it with fish.

[MerryMenagerie]

I'd say that's somewhere around 40 gallons of water.

[swiltz]

atm. it seems like your tank is undergoing the cycling process, reduce the feeding, or even feed outside the tank in order to aid the cycling process. This will prevent the saturation of bio load for your beneficial bacteria. Also, do the 30% water changes once every week.

Ensure that you are using a water conditioner like prime, to remove the chlorine with each water change. This will remove both chlorine and chloramines that will kill your beneficial bacteria, and thus restart the whole process. (The nitrogen cycle is what keeps your water pure**, lower amounts of harmful nitrogenous compounds)

A word of advice, your turtles only foul the water as much as u feed em. If your filter has a real tough time keeping up even after a few months, either change the filter or even add another filter for extra turn over of water. As the experts have mentioned above, water turnover is key for the nitrogen cycle to complete quickly (less clogging media), plus proper aeration ( something to disturb water surface for oxygen to enter water) to ensure that the bacteria do have proper amounts of oxygen to carry out the cycle.

[swiltz]

I'd say that's somewhere around 40 gallons of water.

May we know what the sun sun filter is rated for? (eg. 150gallons) Turtles generally required as much as 3 x the amount stated.